The “pit bull problem” isn’t a pit bull problem

02•23•16

It’s an all-dog problem.

Or, I should say, it’s a problem for all dogs.

Because what the “pit bull problem” really is, is a complete and utter misunderstanding of what dogs are and how they behave. (And how they should be treated, but that’s part of the what dogs are question, too.)

Honestly, this is what pit bull advocates have been shouting from the rooftops for forever, right?

Breed-specific legislation will never be the answer. Never ever.

Ever.

Here’s the thing: We are a dog-driven, dog-heavy, dog-saturated society. Even if you’re not a dog person, if you live here among the rest of us, you probably can’t go a day without seeing at least one dog. In your neighbor’s yard, walking past your office building, jogging in the park, on television, in advertisements, in statues and on greeting cards and on and on.

Dogs are everywhere.

That’s wonderful, of course, because they sure make life great.

But it’s also damaging (to dogs) because it’s all-too-easy for us to forget: Just because they’re part of human life around every twist and turn, they are a whole other species with a whole other set of needs, behaviors, and quirks.

Right? We can all agree to that, right? Dogs aren’t people.

So, here’s where the dog problem comes in: By forgetting that they’re a separate species, we (I’m using “we” generically, here, so please don’t take offense… I’m sure you’re a lovely dog person) treat them unfairly. We (again, generically) turn them into shelters because they bark too much or jump on our granny or–gasp–bite our children.

Our expectations–dogs are part and parcel of human life, so obviously they’ll know the rules we want them to know because obviously they’re dogs, duh–do not align with the reality of inviting another species into our homes.

Dogs languish in shelters, dogs lose their lives, dogs get sentenced to a life chained in the backyard because our expectations do not align with the reality of having another species woven into the fabric of our lives.

And that isn’t breed-specific.

I will not disagree with those of you who cry out that there are some dogs who do not belong with families, who are unsafe to be in our homes. Yes, there are some. They are oh-so-few, though, and many labeled as such (Lucas.) can be incredible family pets if treated, trained, fed, exercised, etc. correctly.

And that isn’t a breed-specific distinction, either.

Let’s set aside the emotion of breed-specific legislation for a sec, that intense, gut-wrenching pain of family dogs being taken from their homes or never even given a chance to have a home because of how they look.

Set that aside for just a sec.

Looking at it from a purely logical standpoint: Wouldn’t it make far more sense to focus on teaching people how to understand and how to train dogs? Wouldn’t it make far more sense to focus on behavior–of both dog and human–than outward appearance? Heck, we humans learn from the youngest age never to judge a book by a cover or a person by their skin, so how can we not apply that same logic to dogs?

It makes no rational sense.

I get that this is an oversimplification. I do. I get that it entails all sorts of things like how to actually deliver that education and how to overcome our culture of violence and how to (finally) link domestic abuse and animal abuse and, taking that even further, how to focus on rehabilitation not just a punitive approach (again, dogs and humans) and on and on.

I get it. It’s complicated.

But I also think we’ve so over-complicated some of the most basic issues with “the pit bull problem” that we’ve ignored the fundamental problem: a lack of understanding of dogs. Just dogs. Any breed.

Because, at the end of the day, we can all acknowledge that BSL doesn’t work. (And, by “we” I’m still generalizing because there’s a small subset of the population that refuses to acknowledge data and science over fear and emotion.)

So, let’s stop talking about breed, eh? (<— Canadian reference as a nod to the Toronto data!)

Let’s use our heads and start talking about the things that really matter, the things that will keep dogs happy and healthy in homes, the things that will decrease dog bites.

Comments

Everybody can have a gun that wants to buy and register one, or who knows a guy who knows a guy who can get you one. Not everyone who has a gun should have one. Not unless they get training and apply all safety measures. You know, the simple things, don’t leave a loaded gun lying on the coffee table where your toddler or 6 year old can get and pull the trigger? Right, we all know these things, but yet every day there is another report of a child killed or a child shooting an adult because of these things.

It’s all about responsibility, whether you be a pet owner or a gun owner. You, an adult human being, are responsible of them, whether they be pets or gun owners. Step up to the plate and do the right thing.

But, there will always be those who want a xxxx breed dog because they are the most popular dog to have, no matter if you live in a 2 bedroom apartment or on a farm. If a dog is not taken care of, loved, cared for and yes, trained, they can turn out to be a “bad” dog. Same goes for all those who want to “protect” their household by buying a weapon. Having a weapon in your house may not protect your household; in many cases it may put your household at risk.

Sorry for the rant, but this is never ending. I love border collies. I’ve seen way too many of them and in more than one case, pulled them from rural shelters discarded because “they are not good with kids”, or they “chased the chickens”. Duh, hello…..did you bother to spend any time with them and train them what their job was? And by the way, border collies aren’t the best fit for you if you live in a two bedroom apartment and work 8 hours a day. Sigh….

As the owner of a pitbull/pitbull mix dog adopted unknowingly from the humane society (told it was boxer collie??), and being a novice dog owner, when I found out through my brother I indeed owned this breed I became distrusting for about 24 hours, but I had fell in love with my dog, so knowing I could get some crap from neighbors for my dog, I enrolled me and my dog in obedience class for 2 semesters and then prep class for canine good citizenship, and she passed!!! I have a beautiful, friendly, nonbiting, well mannered dog/best friend. An yes she is a pitbull mix!!!!

I love your story. Thank you so much for sharing. What’s funny is that something similar happened with Emmett… when everyone around us started to say, “What were you thinking adopting a pit bull?!?!” we started to scratch our heads a bit and wonder if it was a mistake. One night I even said to Em as I was tucking him in bed, “Don’t bite our faces, k?” And he just wagged, kissed my chin, and that was that. Of course, he was my heart from moment one… very much like your story!

Maggie this seems like the perfect place to talk about my husbands brother and his wife and share the unfortunate story of two of their dogs. I’ll call him I and her E.
Back in 1994 I&E went to the mall and bought a little beagle puppy from pj’s pet store, yup a dog that most likely came from a puppy mill ( but she was so cute-Es words) They were masters students at the time, and lived on university campus but within a year of getting Genevieve, they bought a house, both worked full time and commuted to the city, that poor dog Gen was crated 10-11hrs a day. Well Gen going from a (suspected) puppy mill to a glass display window in the mall, to home where she was loved but crated over 50 hrs a week developed some issues, go figure!!! Gen had food guarding issues. About a year and a half after they got Gen they decided to get another beagle puppy, again from a pet store, this pup had to be crated as a puppy 10+hrs a day. My husband and I stopped speaking with his brother and wife shortly after they that, the pup Plato must have been about 3months old, we didn’t really know her and they all moved to Cali so we didn’t have to deal with them for about 5 years. When we started speaking again, Genevieve had already been put down because she had snapped at their son, he was a toddler at the time. They still had Plato, thinking back that dog was a Saint! Tthey put her down due to old age, I think she was about 13. With Plato gone they wanted another dog and decided to rescue, so they went to an adoption event held at a park and picked up Lulu, a corgi/hound mix. E told me that when they adopted lulu the lady who had been fostering Lulu told them to take it slow with her.
Well I guess my wonderful sister in law decided to ignore that advice and that she would use some of that techniques she had seen on the dog whisperer. Lulu would growl from time to time, probably when she felt threatened? When they got Lulu my nephew was 10 and my niece was 7, old enough to know how to treat an animal if shown properly. The technique E decided to use was a mock bite, when the dog growls you jab it in the neck with your hand, that is supposed to imitate a dog nipping another dog in the neck to put it in its place. Well fast forward 3 years, Lulu bites my nephew in the face, she bites a male friend of theirs on his hand and bites a 5 year old girl in the leg as she is running by in the park. Those three bite incidents happened within 6 months of each other but 3 years after they adopted her. They consult with the rescue that they had gotten her from. The Rescue sends over their trainer, long story cut a little short, the trainer was appalled when E told her the technique she’d been using on this dog. The trainer said that what they did by jabbing Lulu in the neck was to stop her from giving a warning. So when the poor dog felt threatened and uncomfortable she would no longer growl because she knew a painful jab in the throat was coming, she gave no warning, she would just bite. So that techniques didn’t correct any behavior, all they did was get rid of the warning.
The trainer told them it would take work and they would have to make some changes in their lives,like when they had company they would have to crate Lulu. Now it may shock you to hear this but they didn’t want to put the time in so they gave Lulu back to the rescue and within 12 hours they had already found a dog breed they wanted, a breeder, put a deposit down, arranged flight and transportation from Canada to the US for their brand new puppy.

There’s so much more to this story, during one of their visits to Ontario , my dog Sandy snapped at their kids, once at each of them and a cousins dogs snapped at my niece all in the same week long visit. They were 8 & 11, definitely old enough to understand instructions and to know better. I have to add that my dog Sandy snapped three times in the 15 years that he was alive and that my cousins dog has never snapped at anyone before or after. So there you have it, is it a breed problem is it a dog problem or is it a (stupid) people problem.

Holy moly. What a story. I’m really sorry you’ve been dragged through all of that… I know you have such a big heart and are such a dog lover that it must be painful to watch it all unfold. I hope ranting helped offload a bit of it. And I really hope they don’t get any more dogs! Big hugs to you! Thank you for sharing, even though I know it’s not easy.

Well I’m a firm believer that we humans as a pack leader can train any dog and can destroy any dog, regardless of what breed they are. You can make a chihuahua the worst of the dogs with wrong up bringing and you can make dogs like pitbull, mastiffs the best of dogs with the right upbringing. Dogs always behave as us humans want them to behave. I think pitbull are great dogs and can be as tolerant as any other dog out there if in right hands.